Kevin D-TEPPC 2016 Study Request

Study Requestor: Kevin Davidson

Contact Information: Kevin Davidson, Planning Director, Hualapai Tribe ( [email protected] )

Questions

1. Requested Study Year?

10-Year (2016-2026) hourly production cost study, and power flows in various years (e.g., 2017; 2020; 2026)

2. What is the key question you would like the study to answer?

How would the decommissioning of the Eldorado-Moenkopi 500 KV power line impact power flows, lines losses, production costs, and reliability violations on WECC paths, taking into account state policies (e.g., California’s renewable goals for 2030) and the addition of renewable resources in various parts of the Western states including in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and California?

3. Summary of the study’s key load, resource, transmission, and/or policy assumptions.

At present, the Eldorado-Moenkopi 500 KV power line provides transmission capability within the Western grid. Were it to be decommissioned, the loss of this interconnection between northern parts of Arizona, Nevada and California would modify flows and transfer capability over the southern portion of the WECC system and remove. The study should assume: a reference case that starts with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s assumptions in the 2015 Long-Term Reliability Assessment, and then adds renewable resources and other resources to satisfy WECC planning and resource requirements, current state renewable portfolio standards (including California’s recently adopted renewable energy targets), and the implementation of the Environmental Protection Administration’s Clean Power Plan (with its final targets for carbon-dioxide emissions reductions in the states in the WECC region); and all existing transmission and planned transmission lines. The change case (relative to that baseline reference case) should assume that the Eldorado-Moenkopi 500 KV power line is decommissioned starting in the beginning of 2017.

Note: If the 10-year study request links to the 20 year, please identify basis for the linkage between the expected 10 year study results and inputs into the 20 year study case.

4. How will this study provide information of broad value to stakeholders in the Western Interconnection, e.g. customers, regulators, Transmission Providers?

The study will show the value to the region of retaining existing transmission infrastructure, in terms of reliability and economic metrics. 5. Can you offer expertise or information to WECC to assist in the development of this study case? Describe the information or support you will be able to provide, if any.

Yes, to the extent needed to support clarification of various assumptions in the study case.

6. Do you know of other stakeholders interested in the issues on which this request is based? If so, please provide their contact information.

Specifically: Arash Moalemi, Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, ([email protected] ) Kris Mayes, representing American Transmission Company ( [email protected] )

More generally, various parties interested in efficient and reliable power flows on the Southwestern grid, to the extent that their own reliance on transmission of resources assumes (directly or indirectly) the continued availability of the transmission infrastructure in question in this study.

7. Is the requested study necessary to meet a member Transmission Provider's compliance with its Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT), Attachment K? Not to our knowledge.